This presentation contains information about the differences that distinguish countable from uncountable nouns. There are also examples of types of nouns depending on their quality and form.
2. Countable nouns or count nouns Ucountable nouns, non count or mass nouns
Countable nouns are things that we can separate
and count. They can be singular or plural.
Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts,
abstractions, etc. For example:
Substances: milk, cream, sugar, bread, flour, water..
Concepts: hope, peace, beauty, entertainment…
Feelings and qualities: anger, joy, honesty, pride
Activities: homework, sleep, surveillance…
They cannot be divided into separate elements.
They cannot be counted.
They usually express a group or a type.
They generally cannot be pluralized. Depending
on the context of the sentence, they work both with
and without an article (a, an, or the).
Sugar is sweet.
The sunshine is beautiful.
I drink milk.
He eats rice.
We watch soccer together.
The wood is burning.
Singular count nouns
refer to one person or
thing: book; teacher;
wish; idea, friend, etc.
Singular count
nouns cannot be used
alone. They must have
a determiner: So,
before singular count
nouns use:
* the indefinite
article: a/an.
Example:
a book; a teacher; a
wish, an idea, etc.
Plural count nouns
refer to more than one
person or thing:
books, teachers,
wishes, ideas, friends,
etc.
Plural count nouns can
be used alone. They
usually add –s or –es at
the end of the word:
notebooks, currencies,
etc.
Examples:
I like oranges.
3. Count noun or countable nouns Non countable (mass) nouns
Singular count nouns Plural count nouns
* The definite pronoun:
the.
Examples: The student,
the book, the teacher,
the wish, the idea, etc.
* The possessive
pronouns: your, my, his,
her, its, our. Their.
Example:
Where is my bottle?
* We can also use the
definite article the.
Examples:
The students are in
class.
Quantifier
Both countable and uncountable nouns use quantifier in the place of determiner. Quantifiers are used to give information
about the number of something: how many or how much.
many
a few/few/very few **
a number (of)
several
a large number of
a great number of
a majority of
much
a little/little/very little *
a bit (of)
a great deal of
a large amount of
a large quantity of
4. Count noun or countable nouns Non countable (mass) nouns
Quantifier
With Both
all
enough
more/most
less/least
no/none
not any
some
any
a lot of
lots of
plenty of
